Google creates $4 million crisis fund for immigration cause

SAN FRANCISCO

AFP photo

Google has created a crisis fund worth $4 million to support immigrants stranded outside the U.S. borders, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order banning refugees and citizens of certain countries from traveling to the country, the USA Today newspaper reported late on Jan. 29, citing a memo sent by Google CEO Sundar Pichai and confirmed by a company spokesperson. 

The search-engine giant has created a $2 million crisis fund that can be matched with up to $2 million in donations from employees, totaling $4 million, for four organizations: The American Civil Liberties Union, the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, the International Rescue Committee and UNHCR. It is Google’s largest crisis campaign ever, according to the report. 

Separately, company executives are also giving money individually to the cause.

The grant comes a day after Pichai voiced strong objections to Trump’s controversial immigration ban and company co-founder Sergey Brin participated in a protest at San Francisco International Airport.

Executives at Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Uber, Airbnb and Tesla Motors have strongly denounced the policy.